


Ethereal

by quantumoddity



Series: Unusual Words Prompts [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Canon Era, Established Relationship, M/M, Pining, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23450947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumoddity/pseuds/quantumoddity
Summary: ethereal: (adj.) extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this worldVax spends a night with Shaun Gilmore
Relationships: Shaun Gilmore/Vax'ildan
Series: Unusual Words Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1687018
Comments: 7
Kudos: 93





	1. Chapter 1

Vax had never been still when he slept. Vex used to curse him for it when they were kids, threatening to roll him right off their straw mattress if he tangled the blankets up any more and actually doing it on more than one occasion. He was a nightmare to share a tent with as well, sometimes worming his way right out of the flaps and fetching up in a stream, waking them all with a yelp sometime around two in the morning. No one in Vox Machina would share with him any more.

The only person who didn’t seem to mind sharing a bed with him was Shaun. 

Vax was only half dozing, enjoying himself far too much to let go of the night they’d had together, like if he let his eyes close he’d never have anything so sweet again. After all, they were never in Emon or Westruun as often as Vax would like, too much time between those breathless moments when he’d get to break into a run, just to get ahead of everyone else and see him just that little bit sooner, jumping up and slapping the unicorn adorned sign every time he passed underneath. 

And so much could happen between those moments. 

Vax rolled over, stretching his legs out, Shaun’s almost ridiculously silky sheets whispering over his bare skin. He found himself against his lover’s broad back, smiling and resting his forehead between his shoulder blades. Shaun always smelled of somewhere else, somewhere with sand and sea and warm sun. All Vax had to do was inhale and he was there, far away from would be gods and dragons and people who wanted to kill him on sight. Maybe somewhere with a small cottage on the shoreline, a short work from a store with both of their names on the door. 

It was a pretty dream. 

And suddenly there was warmth, something more than Shaun’s skin, something that seemed on the verge of burning. And there was another smell, sharp and powerful, something like ozone. Magic.

Vax opened his eyes, fingers searching for his knives for one jarring moment until he saw and realised. 

It was Shaun who was burning, though he didn’t seem to be aware of it. All over his deep brown skin, gold light ran in molten rivulets, forming intricate and beautiful runes. Lying there with his hair loose and flowing like an ink tide and magic pulsing through his veins and across his skin, he looked like some kind of god. A god Vax would gladly fall to his knees and worship.

He’d seen this before but it still took his breath away. Vax sat up, not caring when the blankets slipped down and left him naked. He wanted to wake Shaun with kisses, he wanted to show him how beautiful he thought he was, use his body when words failed him as they always did. But he didn’t. He knew how Shaun reacted to his runes waking up, they made him nervous. All they’d ever meant for him was trouble if the wrong people saw them, a complete loss of his freedom, a life of being an experiment or someone else’s magical battery. 

But there was no one here but them, safe in the darkness that was left beyond the golden glow of Shaun’s magic. 

Vax ran a finger along the runes closest to him, tracing their ethereal pattern. They really were beautiful, seeing them made him feel safe. When was the last time he’d ever felt safe? Long enough that he couldn’t remember. 

He would feel safe in the cottage by the sea, Vax knew. Safe and normal and very much not some hero expected to avert the end of the world. Just someone who could have a store and a husband and no reason to ever be scared. Vax let himself imagine it, the sound of waves outside the window, sand still clinging to his skin, a ring on his finger. 

Vax sighed and sank back down into the blankets, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around Shaun’s chest, fingers still idly tracing the paths of light, The man murmured softly in his sleep, shifting but not waking. Vax pressed a kiss to his skin as he settled again, wishing him a sweet dream.

And Vax would stay awake with his own. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The same days from Shaun's perspective

Everything seemed different, brighter somehow. Shaun’s coffee, the good stuff he imported from Marquet at an enormous expense, tasted richer. The light coming in through the windows felt warmer, thick and golden as melted butter. The chatter of his customers was more bouyant, everyone came through the doors in a better mood, they laughed louder, they tipped more heavily. The glittering decorations he hung from the ceiling to make rainbows fall across the floor were brighter with their candy coloured glass and gold chains. 

Everything was perfect, a bright and gorgeous day, precious in it’s normalcy. And all because Vax’ildan was here. 

He sat on the counter, grinning rakishly, flirting shamelessly with his customers, catching Shaun whenever he came within arm’s reach and kissing him in full view of everyone, playfully pouting for his attention. There in all his roguish glory, brightening up Shaun’s usual routine, getting in the way and making everything better. Vox Machina had been in Emon for three glorious days so far and Vax had spent all of it at Gilmore’s. 

Shaun wished the half elf could know how he made his life so perfect. So much would change, if he was allowed to see himself as Shaun saw him. 

Eventually the day came to a close, when the sunlight had turned from butter to amber, when the last customer had left and Shaun turned the sign over with a sigh that was half relieved and half regretful. But Vax’ildan was still there, hopping down from the counter and stretching his arms above his head. 

“Do people really work this hard?” he groaned as his shoulders popped, “How do you do it…”

Shaun snorted, folding his arms, “You barely did anything, little bird, other than scuffing my counter.” 

“Still, it was exhausting,” Vax shrugged, now wandering around the shelves like he’d only just realised the trinkets sitting there waiting to be perused. 

It was so good to see him out of armour. Without it he stood taller, shoulders back and chin lifted, not holding himself ready for something to come and try to kill him. Able to wear his hair loose so it brushed his shoulders, black in some lights but able to hold blue, green, purple depending on where he stood. Smiling as a default, someone who didn’t carry the whole future on their shoulders. His little bird, rather than Vax’ildan of Vox Machina. 

“Is this magic?” he asked, picking up a music box and turning it over in his long, clever fingers. 

“It’s all magic, little bird,” Shaun chuckled, sitting down in his chair behind the counter to work out his takings for the day. 

“What does it do?” Vax shot him a grin from across the store, “Will it grant me wishes? Make handsome men kiss me and sweep me off to bed?”

“Certain handsome men have jobs to do before they do any kind of sweeping, my dear,” Shaun indicated the handful of copper coins he was piling into groups equal to a silver. 

Vax made a disappointed noise and set the box back on the shelf, “Must be broken…”

He was across the shop faster than Shaun could have believed, if he didn’t know Vax very well. He flopped against Shaun’s back as if his own bones had given up, sighing dramatically, “Some date this is.” 

Shaun paused at that, coins becoming loose in his fingers, “ _ Is _ this a date, little bird?” 

Suddenly, the half elf was pressing his face to the back of Shaun’s neck, enough that he could feel the heat coming off his cheeks, “I mean…”

The coins hit the desk with a chiming clatter and Shaun took Vax’s hands in his own, bringing them to clasp at his chest. They weren’t half as quick or clever as the half elf’s, not as calloused from brave deeds, but he did love how they could completely cover Vax’s, hold them safe and secure. 

And now he could feel Vax smiling as well as blushing, his lips pressing a soft kiss behind his ear. 

Though Shaun’s brow furrowed, fingers finding something on Vax’s wrist that made him stop. He drew them back to see, heart sinking as his fears were confirmed. The wound was just starting to turn into scar, still raised and red and angry. It ran across the inside of his wrist, hard to spot if he’d been careful to keep his arms turned away from Shaun, as he clearly had been all day. 

Vax had stilled, like a cat gripped by the scruff, wary and tense, “Pike healed it as much as she could but she didn’t have much left and because it’s on my wrist, it keeps opening back up and...and I didn’t want to bother her again…”

The question was on Shaun’s lips, to ask who or what had hurt him like this. But he knew he really didn’t want to know. He didn’t need more participants in his nightmares. 

Instead he pressed his lips to the wound, gently as he could, like such a soft action would wipe away the hurt and make it so it had never been. It wouldn’t, of course, but Vax relaxed, free arm wrapping around his chest, like he was clinging to a piece of driftwood in a storm. 

The coins could wait. 

“Come upstairs with me, little bird,” Shaun murmured, thumb stroking over the inside of his wrist, “I’ll take care of you.”

Vax gave a soft exhale, like he’d been waiting to hear those words all day. 

They didn’t need to call it a date, they didn’t need to name what they had. All Shaun needed Vax to know was that he’d always be here for him, a safe place when everything else was falling to pieces around him. 

Shaun only wished he could keep him here. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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**Author's Note:**

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